Staff urged to speak out in new survey
As well as the annual iMatter survey, this year NHSScotland staff experience will also be measured using a new short survey called the Dignity at Work Survey, which is running from 6 November until 27 November. It is designed to measure how staff feel they are treated at work, and will provide important feedback to help shape our workforce strategies and build improvements based on what staff tell us matters to them.
Janis Butler, Director of HR and Organisational Development, and Alex Joyce, Employee Director, share their thoughts on why it is worthwhile to complete the survey, and why it is important to the organisation:
Janis said: “The Dignity at Work Survey is a meaningful way for us to hear from staff – it’s an important part of our staff experience journey.
“One of NHS Lothian’s five values is ‘Dignity and Respect’, and as part of that core value I would encourage staff to be open and honest in giving us feedback.”
Janis emphasised that the management team embraces the ‘Openness, Honesty and Responsibility’ value, and welcomes feedback as a means of informing improvements.
She added: “This survey contributes to us being able to build a picture of our staff experience at work, and to understand what’s important to them. We want to work alongside staff to develop and co-create action plans – that shouldn’t be something that’s top-down.
“In line with our ‘Care and Compassion’ value, we aim to provide a safe and caring setting for patients and staff. Research tells us that there is a direct link between staff experience and patient experience . It is therefore really important that we take steps to ensure our staff are engaged and listened to – the survey is a great opportunity to reflect on and respond to what matters to our staff.
While the iMatter survey gives us a comprehensive picture of how staff feel about their team and the organisation, it is equally important that we get feedback on how staff members feel they are treated at work as individuals.”
The Dignity at Work survey allows staff to tell us how they feel they are treated in the workplace in relation to dignity and respect, interactions with other staff and patients and health and wellbeing, which is not covered in the iMatter survey.
Alex added: “It’s important to us as leaders to support this national survey, and we hope staff members will take the time to fill it in.
“We now have a Staff Experience and Engagement Programme Board, which is in the process of developing a new delivery plan. iMatter survey results are used to inform that plan, but it would be beneficial to also have it informed by the results of the Dignity at Work survey. The Board will be able to hear about what’s going on at a local level, so that going forward we are all able to demonstrate the positive action we have taken based on survey results.
“We do recognise that there is often concern that these kinds of surveys are not fully anonymous. We would like to reassure all staff that responses cannot be traced back to individuals. Unlike iMatter, the results for Dignity at Work are only reported at directorate level, not down to local team level. In addition, going back to our values, in line with our ‘Dignity and Respect’ value we always strive to respect dignity, choice, privacy and confidentiality.”
If you’re a member of staff, look out for either the email with a link to the survey or your paper copy. If you have not been given a copy of the survey, ask your line manager to contact the Dignity at Work Team.
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